Richard Dennis Stinson

His very full life complete, Richard Dennis Stinson left this world on August 12, 2026, at home in St Paul, MN, peacefully, completely on his own terms, and with his loving family fully present throughout.

Richard's earthly story (this time around) began on October 5, 1942, born to Mary (Cavallaro) and George Stinson in Rockford, IL. He loved sharing the memories of growing up within his mother's extended Sicilian family -- sitting on the lap of his beloved Nana, playing with his cousins, and learning to bake cookies with his aunts and sausage with his uncles. His young life was also filled with playing baseball, tennis, and swimming; he was always working, from setting pins in a bowling alley as a child, to managing a local movie theater as a teenager.

His career was long and varied: In 1963, he enlisted in the US Air Force, where he proudly served in the elite USAF Security Service cryptographic intelligence branch. Returning to college on the GI bill, he completed his accounting degree. He immediately passed the CPA exam and opened his own practice in Rockford. He enjoyed non-for-profit accounting most and eventually returned to that in other settings. Always challenging himself, he obtained far too many professional certifications to list here, but he passed his last exam for the International Certified Fraud Examiner license at nearly 70 years old. He was a gifted college adjunct teacher for decades and created his own CPA review course while living in Madison, WI. Students contacted him repeatedly for years to come, thanking him for his mentorship as their own careers matured. He remembered each and every one of them. His final teaching gig was at the Mitchell-Hamline law school in St. Paul. until he was 80.

As much as he loved his work, he treasured his family most of all. He married Barbara, "the little girl next door" and his life's love, in 1983. He was a deeply caring and devoted husband and father to their children, Nicole and Micah. As his family grew, he welcomed their spouses, Sam Walling and Kate Montealegre into his heart just as his own adult children. He cherished his four beautiful grandchildren, Stinson (Tintin) and Persephone (Percy) Walling, and Colin and Annika Stinson. He and Barbara moved to St. Paul in 2009 to live nearby their families.

His was a life rich with many long, trusted, and meaningful friendships, too many to list.

He also nurtured other valued relationships, with three godchildren, Robbie and Ian Corey-Boulet, and Jennifer Zanayed, and with many of his children's friends who always affectionately called him "papa."

From his dad, he inherited a sly, witty humor, and from his mother, a flare of the Sicilian temper (only at times). He loved animals (especially poodles), loved to cook and bake, loved to study every update in his field, and he was always incredibly well read. He loved to travel and wished he could have done more.

Most of all, he loved Christmas. Every moment. Traditions included Bookbinder soup and an imported British plum pudding set flaming with brandy on Christmas Eve. He spent hours in front of a glowing Christmas tree (that he would have left up as long as his wife would let him), and annually read Dickens' A Christmas Carol aloud in-between watching every version on film.

He will be incredibly missed. Beyond words.

As he wished, services will be private for immediate family only.

He asked that any memorials go to Doctors Without Borders.